Highgate Cemetery Vampire Real story by witness David Farrant

Highgate Cemetery Vampire Real story by witness David Farrant

It was 1969 when the story broke in the local news paper, “A Vampire is loose in Highgate Cemetery.” It was a time when film studio “Hammer Films” was actively filming horror films in Highgate Cemetery. Most of these films centered around the Bram Stoker deception of a Vampire. Bram had included Highgate Cemetery in his non-fiction accounts of Dracula. With folklore close at hand and the Gothic creepy existence that Highgate Cemetery was in the late 1960’s, it’s no surprise that a Vampire on the loose in Highgate cemetery happened!

Meet David Farrant. At this time David was in his early 20’s and had been raised in a family with parents who had embraced the spiritualist movement. From a young age David was accustom to the idea of communicating with the dead and the occult. As his interest peaked in the mid 1960’s he decided it was time to investigate the rumored “tall, dark entity” that so many locals had talked about in Highgate cemetery. It should be noted that Mr. Farrant was raised in Highgate and to this day resided in the community.

Word about the town was that an entity had haunted Highgate cemetery and many people had seen this apparition. Once David starting to investigate the story it was clear that this was nothing new but rather a tale as old as the history books. When researching David found that as far back as the 1850’s there were accounts of an entity in Highgate cemetery that roamed the hollowed grounds. While there were not details that specifically point to the “vampire” many had accounts pointing to a psychic vampire of sorts. As Davids investigation provided, many had witnessed, or rather experienced a state of hypnosis like experience where said entity over came their mind and put them in a trance like state. Lost in a state of confusion, at least one witness explained to David that he had become lost in Highgate Cemetery and that this vampire or entity put him in this state of mental psychosis.

Not long after interviewing witnesses to the spectre, David himself would see the Tall, Dark Entity so many other before him had described. First upon seeing the “Vampire” David recognized that it was not a Vampire at all! At least not the type that were portrayed in the horror films in Highgate Cemetery in those days. Maybe a psychic vampire in the sense that it seemed to influence the mind in an unusual way. At first David thought maybe this was someone in costume, but quickly determined that it was a supernatural being without a doubt.

Without much delay David Farrant was in the middle of a spectacle of sorts with BBC TV and ITV all at the Highgate Cemetery looking for a Vampire on the Loose. With in hours of the broadcast hundreds of people turned up at Highgate Cemetery to spot the Vampire. What some did not know at the time was that David Farrant had discovered evidence of Satanic occult rituals being performed at Highgate Cemetery in tombs or rather crypts. He described very large black candles melted just above 6″ and inverted pentagrams and other symbols of the occult that signified very powerful rituals that no doubt could have released such an entity as the tall, dark specter that David and many others had witnessed first hand.

According to David the tall, Dark Figure still haunts highgate cemetery to this day and was spotted as recently as 2016. This entities location is often experienced near the top gate of Highgate cemetery, just a few feet beyond the gate near the road. David Farrant believes this is an entity empowered by the Satanic Rituals performed in highgate cemetery in the 1960’s. However it’s important to note that this supernatural being is recorded as far back as the 1860’s and likely has been haunting Highgate far longer than any rituals had been performed. Perhaps these rituals embraced it and had made it’s presence obvious to locals at that time when many had reported seeing such a spirit.

We must note that another man known as Sean Manchester who professes to be a Bishop was also prevalent in the Highgate vampire case during this time and told of a coffin shipped into Highgate Cemetery from Europe that contained the remains of a Vampire.

To listen to Mr. David Farrant’s first hand account of the Highgate Vampire Case, listen to Spirits and More radio Episode 3 recorded on Feb. 11th, 2017 with Host Steven Rowin and Freddie Valentine on Spirits and More radio.

David Farrant is the President of the British Psychic and Occult Society and still lives in Highgate a Northern suburb of London. You can find more about him on his website www.DavidFarrant.org David has also authored a series of book that detail his experiences with the Highgate Cemetery Vampire Case for further reading.Available here:

Hear David Farrant tell first hand his account of the Highgate Cemetery Vampire as portrayed in 1969. Listen Hear!